Attack of the Union Generals Horde!

[MarkCSA]

Gentlemen,

In my current game as the CSA, I am doing quite well (I think), Missouri and Kentucky are almost mine and I am slowly pushing the Union off the sacred Virginia soil. I have a fleet of blockade runners in the south hauling in the goods and in Florida, several unlucky Union stacks are about to get mauled by my assembled armies.

Only one thorn remians: about 20 Union generals roaming around the land, by themself, doing absolutely nothing. Is there a reason for this? They just travel around on rivers, popping up all over the place and when I catch one of them, they just redeploy to a nearby city.

What to do, what to do?

One more question: how do I win a siege? Just have plenty of guys and arty sieging a city/fort and eventually they'll surrender? I've got the storming the fort part pretty much down, but there are a few very well protected ones that (the one north of Norfolk for example) that I am not too keen on storming.

[lodilefty]

Gentlemen,

<snip>
One more question: how do I win a siege? Just have plenty of guys and arty sieging a city/fort and eventually they'll surrender? I've got the storming the fort part pretty much down, but there are a few very well protected ones that (the one north of Norfolk for example) that I am not too keen on storming.

To get them to starve, you've got to blockade the port that is part of the fort, Read the tooltip over the port symbol for Ft. Monroe, then read the tool tip for the water area(s) mentioned. Get combat elements there [beware the guns of the Fort], andstarve 'em out.

In theory, if you eliminated all Enemy Transports in the 'ocean commerce' block, they would have no sea supply transport. This hasn't been tested to my knowledge...

[Jabberwock]

Apparently Pocus taught Athena one of my tricks recently ... scouting. Sounds like she is overdoing it, and she doesn't do amphibious assault real well, so those generals will never have anything to command. Let them go.

A combination siege/blockade will eventually starve your opponent out of Norfolk, but it takes a while. The best trick is to hit them just before they starve, when cohesion is low and attrition has taken a big toll. That way you get some easy NM, WS, promotions, and possibly artillery or supply units (but those'll be low strength for a while afterwards).

[MarkCSA]

I've taken Norfolk a long time ago (in the first or second turn), it's the fort on the peninsula above that Fort Marion (??? at work atm). Sea starving them isn't really an option, as the Union Blockade fleets patrol the area and have sent 5 of my ironclads to the bottom of the seas.

They also knocked out my Norfolk artillery, but have no fear, fresh Georgia Coastal Guns have just been placed three turns ago. I intend to stick some in the fort after I take it too, muhahahahahahaaaaa.

The roaming generals are not near the Pensacola breakout (the three guys over there are actually commanding some troops), more in tenessee, the appalachians and near the front.

[Jabberwock]

1. Strongly reinforce Norfolk (a division with 4 artillery would be good), add an artillerist (Huger, Alexander, or S.D.Lee), and an engineer to the stack.
2. Once you get to level 5+ trenches there, start hammering that blockade fleet.
3. When the blockaders are gone, push siege artillery into the trenches around Ft Monroe. Add the artillerist & the engineer from Norfolk, plus some more artillery to the stack in the trenches. The more you add, the more damage you do when creating breaches.
4. Don't try to blockade. You will lose, unless you have adjusted the Bombard&Blockade.opt file. I wouldn't suggest adjusting it mid-game (that would be cheating).
5. Unless you want to wait another several months, use a small corps to assault Monroe after the siege has created 2 breaches.

[lodilefty]

<snip> it's the fort on the peninsula above that Fort Marion (??? at work atm). Sea starving them isn't really an option, as the Union Blockade fleets patrol the area and have sent 5 of my ironclads to the bottom of the seas.
<snip>

That's Ft. Monroe. The USA really protects it with ships patrolling Hampton Roads, and the fort has some nasty artillery. You'll need a big fleet to knock out his, then take the beating from the guns.

This is very historical. CSA isolated the peninsula with blocking forces for a long time. It's just a very hard nut.

Think 'island hopping' strategy from the Pacific in WW2: bypass, isolate, let 'em rot.....

[MarkCSA]

I got 4 Siege Artillery under the 1-star Siege Expert Dude there with the Gamecock brigade under Pickett happily hammering into the fort.

Union ships are already getting shot at by the city before the fort (on the peninsula) where I parked some arty a while back.

Strange thing (this happened at other forts too): after a while I get attacked by the guys in the fort. My guys are on agressive (the orange mode) stance, is this them trying to sneak out, attack me or what?

Thanks for the help so far guys!

[Jabberwock]

They're probably trying to sneak out. Check their strength in the battle report. If it is low, go ahead in.

[Jabberwock]

They're probably trying to sneak out. Check their strength in the battle report. If it is low, go ahead in.

South doesn't have a Siege Expert (bonus attacking forts). Pemberton, Beauregard, and Gardner are all Fort Defenders (bonus defending forts) - same symbol, different ability. Lee is a Siege Engineer (bonus attacking or defending forts) - again the same symbol.

[MarkCSA]

My apologies, it was the Artillery specialist guy. He seemed like a good choice for the job, though.

Another question: will Artillery near the coast shoot and destroy the abstracted sea suppliers? If not, what does?

[Jabberwock]

Nope. You need raider ships in the shipping box for that. The sea supply is determined by the number of transports in that box. (Union only, Confederates never get sea supply).

[MarkCSA]

I got 4 Steam Raiders and an Admiral sinking everything that floats (x supplies sank this turn etc.) on 'evade combat' and another 3 with the other Admiral forming up. This should be interesting. Do I set my Steam Raiders on Aggresive posture to attack their units or do I just need them present?

Time to buy more boats.

[arsan]

I got 4 Steam Raiders and an Admiral sinking everything that floats (x supplies sank this turn etc.) on 'evade combat' and another 3 with the other Admiral forming up. This should be interesting. Do I set my Steam Raiders on Aggresive posture to attack their units or do I just need them present?

Time to buy more boats.

Hi
I fear this shipping lane raiding is not very effective.
For the USA, losing x supples usually is little more than just a drop on the ocean.
But maybe i am wrong...
Regards

[MarkCSA]

Hi
I fear this shipping lane raiding is not very effective.
For the USA, losing x supples usually is little more than just a drop on the ocean.
But maybe i am wrong...
Regards

It all adds up, some lost supplies here, some blown up railroad there, a bit of bad weather, some burnt depots and Kentucky and Missouri firmly on my side.........

Slowly..... but surely.......

[Jabberwock]

Arsan is right, it is one of the least cost effective of the options you have.

That said, you don't want to be in aggressive posture, that just uses up your cohesion. Presence is enough. Bring something along to carry supplies, a transport or several brigs.

[MarkCSA]

Alright gentlemen, thank you for all the help so far, everything is going as planned.......

One last question: how do I know whether units in a city can bombard an adjecent sea zone. In short, I got the Union holed up in Pensacola, control the fort next to it and want to starve them to death. Ideally by blocking the nearby sea zone, with the added bonus of opening up on any naval blockade breakers with my nearby guns. Can entrenched units from Pensacola also bombard the nearby sea zone?

[arsan]

Land units with guns need to have at least level 5 entrenchment to be able to bombard passing ships. But dont expect much of standard field guns (12 pounders, 10 lb parrots...). You will need big guns to make high damage to the ships.
And beware: the ships will answer your bombarding causing losses to your
Also check you have not pressed the "don't bombard" button for the stack.
Regards

[MarkCSA]

Land units with guns need to have at least level 5 entrenchment to be able to bombard passing ships. But dont expect much of standard field guns (12 pounders, 10 lb parrots...). You will need big guns to make high damage to the ships.
And beware: the ships will answer your bombarding causing losses to your
Also check you have not pressed the "don't bombard" button for the stack.
Regards

Arsan, many thanks, I am already getting my engineers in to entrench to the max and am thinking of redeploying my some captured Coastal Arty to that fort. I was thinking more along the lines of Union in Pensacola naval bombarding me back .

One more question, I have built the 'max' of my Georgia Coastal Arty and can build no more, why is this and how do I improve it?

Last question: is it possible to 'upgrade' the fort in some way? and what benefits does this give?

[arsan]

Arsan, many thanks, I am already getting my engineers in to entrench to the max and am thinking of redeploying my some captured Coastal Arty to that fort. I was thinking more along the lines of Union in Pensacola naval bombarding me back .

One more question, I have built the 'max' of my Georgia Coastal Arty and can build no more, why is this and how do I improve it?

Last question: is it possible to 'upgrade' the fort in some way? and what benefits does this give?

OH! I thought you were asking for the opposite.
OK, this is how I think it works but maybe someone more knowledgeable on naval/land bombardment could help us both…
I “think” ships will be fired upon by land units only if trying to pass by his position (from one adjacent sea zone to another). Also, if attacked by the ships, they will shoot back.
But I think you can enter the sea zone from a zone not adjacent the union guns and keep the fleet there blockading without engaging the land forces. So to speak, maintaining them out of the land guns range.
Still, I suspect that if a union fleet appears and engage your fleet the land guns will also take part on the fight… but i´m not sure.

As you can see I have little experience with naval forces as usually play with the CSA and build only blockade runners.
Right now i´m playing my first USA campaign, so if somebody can confirm all this info it will be also very interesting for my game

Regards!

[Jabberwock]

Arsan, many thanks, I am already getting my engineers in to entrench to the max and am thinking of redeploying my some captured Coastal Arty to that fort. I was thinking more along the lines of Union in Pensacola naval bombarding me back .

One more question, I have built the 'max' of my Georgia Coastal Arty and can build no more, why is this and how do I improve it?

Last question: is it possible to 'upgrade' the fort in some way? and what benefits does this give?

Yes, units in Pensacola can bombard the adjacent sea zone.

There are limited numbers of each unit type set in each scenario. It is mostly a question of resources. You can't improve it except by modding the scenarios.

It is not possible to upgrade forts. It is possible to create level 8 entrenchments inside forts. Standard entrenchment rules apply.

[MarkCSA]

Yes, units in Pensacola can bombard the adjacent sea zone.

There are limited numbers of each unit type set in each scenario. It is mostly a question of resources. You can't improve it except by modding the scenarios.

It is not possible to upgrade forts. It is possible to create level 8 entrenchments inside forts. Standard entrenchment rules apply.

Answers to my questions! Many thanks!