Q: (u) symbol; blocked movement

[mikee64]

A couple of questions: In the 1862 scenario Longstreet's Division has a "(u)" between the name of his division and its strength. What does this mean?

Can anyone explain in what situations you can get the "____ is blocked by enemy positions in _____". I understand when weak forces are trying to move and you have the "red indicator" in certain regions because you have no strength or stealth to move. But sometimes it seems even large forces get this message when at least they should give battle (even at bad odds).

Last turn I had Jackson with a large Corps moving from Richmond to Fredericksburg to join other units. There were a few small enemy units in the way which he should have (I thought) run over or pushed aside. But I got the "blocked by enemy positions" message on early days, only to find him arriving later than scheduled for battle. Is this some sort of die roll?

If this is cavalry screening of some sort, that is really cool. (And Pocus would not surprise me if it is that ) We just need a better message to indicate that. "Jackson has been delayed by cavalry screen" etc.

[arsan]

Hi!

Not sure about the second question... i had always thought is was because of the zone of control rules (the red areas you talk about). But maybe there is something more
About the (u) in the stack name i had seen it too in the april 1861 campaign on one of the initial divisions of the Army of the Potmac you get in Alexandria on turn 3.
Of all the six division stacks you get there, the one with (u) in the name is the only one which is not an already formed division. Is just a stack with several separate brigades and a leader.
So i had always thought the (u) means just "unformed" or something like this. Just a way to note on the scenario database that it is a division in name only and not a real and already formed division. But i could be wrong
Is this the case with the Longstreet division you talk about?
Regards!

[Pocus]

About (u) Arsan is 100% right.

About the 'blocked by position' it is indeed about the ZOC rule. If you are blocked because the enemy has a high patrol value (as the cav have), is numerous or have a fort, then you switch to offensive posture automatically (so that you initiate a combat), but as you know, there is also the delayed engagement rule, which can delay the start of a combat by several days.

Also, if you are stopped by ZOC at day 1, you can continue trying at day 2 (so if you kill the patrols at day 1, you continue your move). If you are blocked at day 2+, your movement is stopped.

So if Jackson continued his move, I guess you had a battle at day 1? Otherwise I don't clearly see which mechanism would have triggered thsi delay effect you speak about

[tagwyn]

Pocus: I sent out a division, one division, from Ft. Henry area towards Memphis as the Union the other day. Boy! Sidney Johnston handed me my lunch. He gobbled up my division for breakfast even though it was within Grant's sphere of influence. I know better than to make that kind of mistake against a human, but against Athena ... Wow this is great!! Got in a hurry! LOL apy: PS: Thank you for this great game!!

[Banks6060]

whoa whoa....explain this to me again? I thought "screening" was simulated through the stacks' hide values in this game engine.

There's actually a way to screen with cavalry using ZOC values??

[mikee64]

Let me try to explain a little better what happened, as I think it falls in Pocus' "not sure" area.

Jackson was ordered to move from Richmond through Louisa and then into Spotsylvania (Fredericksburg) in attack posture. With force march the move was to take 5 days. He had the "your Army can penetrate any neighboring region" ZOC tooltip*. His corps included cavalry embedded in a brigade and an independent regiment of cav.

There was a lone US cavalry regiment already in Louisa which I figured would try to evade or be destroyed. The force march succeeded, but then I got this:



So between day 3 and 4, the cavalry apparently blocked Jackson and succeeded in getting away. Jackson eventually arrived in Spotsylvania on day 8 instead of day 5, I guess corresponding to the 3 days we see lost here? There were no other battles or messages until he arrived day 8.

Banks: my understanding of screening is pretty much as you said, I'm just speculating based on results here.

* It seems this tooltip always says "Army" no matter what type force is selected. Maybe it would be better (less confusing for new players I mean) if it just said "force" instead of "Army"? Just a thought I had while I was looking over this.

Edit: thanks for the help on the "(u)" that is indeed what it was.

[Gray_Lensman]

deleted

[Gray_Lensman]

deleted

[Pocus]

Let me try to explain a little better what happened, as I think it falls in Pocus' "not sure" area.

Jackson was ordered to move from Richmond through Louisa and then into Spotsylvania (Fredericksburg) in attack posture. With force march the move was to take 5 days. He had the "your Army can penetrate any neighboring region" ZOC tooltip*. His corps included cavalry embedded in a brigade and an independent regiment of cav.

There was a lone US cavalry regiment already in Louisa which I figured would try to evade or be destroyed. The force march succeeded, but then I got this:



So between day 3 and 4, the cavalry apparently blocked Jackson and succeeded in getting away. Jackson eventually arrived in Spotsylvania on day 8 instead of day 5, I guess corresponding to the 3 days we see lost here? There were no other battles or messages until he arrived day 8.

Banks: my understanding of screening is pretty much as you said, I'm just speculating based on results here.

* It seems this tooltip always says "Army" no matter what type force is selected. Maybe it would be better (less confusing for new players I mean) if it just said "force" instead of "Army"? Just a thought I had while I was looking over this.

Edit: thanks for the help on the "(u)" that is indeed what it was.

What I fail to see is why Jackson move is not aborted, this is what the code should do (now if there is only a delay, it is even cooler).

[mikee64]

What I fail to see is why Jackson move is not aborted, this is what the code should do (now if there is only a delay, it is even cooler).

That's why I said in my first post:

If this is cavalry screening of some sort, that is really cool. (And Pocus would not surprise me if it is that.)

Isn't it cool when your game starts doing things better than you thought you coded?!

BTW, should units ever retreat more than one region after losing a battle? In the case above, Jackson routed in the Fredericksburg battle, and wound up all the way back in Richmond at the end of the turn.